The smartest move Joe Biden ever made was selecting Kamala Harris as his running mate. After all, who’d impeach even a sleazy, senile con-man, only to see him replaced by President Kamala Harris? But it seems that the magic shield of Kamala is wearing thin.
Joe Biden faces the politically damaging prospect of impeachment as he campaigns for re-election after Republicans in congress took the rare step of launching a formal inquiry amid allegations of “abuse of power, obstruction and corruption” surrounding the First Family.
Of course, the Republicans are taking a gamble, here. The Democrats have so cheapened the seriousness of impeachment that it just runs the risk of appearing like another sleazy partisan trick.
On the other hand, the stench of Biden Inc. is so egregious that, under normal circumstances, President Biden would have been called to account, long ago.
Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, announced an impeachment inquiry on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST), the first step in any formal impeachment vote that might follow, accusing the president of a “culture of corruption” based on “serious and credible allegations”, mainly related to his time as Vice President.
“Bank records show that nearly $20 million in payments were directed to the Biden family members and associates to various shell companies,” the Speaker said, speaking as congress returned from its summer recess.
“The Treasury Department alone has more than 150 transactions involving the Biden family business associates that were flagged as suspicious activity by US banks,” he added, listing some of the various strands of evidence Republicans have accumulated this year.
And then there’s the lies.
The accusations revolve around to what extent, if at all, Mr Biden, benefited from his son Hunter Biden’s numerous business dealings with foreign companies in China, Ukraine and Romania during and after Mr Biden’s tenure as Vice President during the Obama administration.
Mr Biden has long denied any knowledge of his family’s business dealings and dismissed as outrageous longstanding Republican suspicions he pushed for the sacking of then Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin in 2016 to avoid scrutiny of his son’s business dealings in that country.
Perhaps he shouldn’t have boasted about it on camera, then. Just like he lied on camera to millions of Americans that Hunter’s laptop was a Russian fake.
Democrats, some of whom concede Hunter Biden’s business activity while his father was vice president was unethical, maintain Republicans have found no evidence directly linking the president to his son’s business activities.
And yet, as Karine Jean-Pierre’s shifting narrative shows, the Dems are clearly worried that the truth is out there. Parroting a statement made by Biden, Jean-Pierre first claimed that the president “never discussed overseas business dealings with his son”. Then she altered that to, “has never been in business with his son”.
Hilariously, Jean-Pierre insists that “nothing has changed” in her statements.
More than 60 per cent of Americans believe the president had at least some involvement in his son’s business dealings, including 42 per cent who said they believed he acted illegally, according to a CNN poll published last week.
The Australian
All in all, it’s not looking good for Sleepy Joe.
The walls are closing in on President Joe Biden, as evidence that he’s been lying for years about his involvement in and knowledge of his son Hunter’s shady dealings with businesses in Ukraine and China becomes harder to ignore.
The Australian
In the end, proving that Biden really was on the take from his son’s dodgy business deals is just the icing on the cake. It’s beyond doubt now that he has been steadily lying about it — and that’s all an impeachment would need. Richard Nixon wasn’t impeached over a “second-rate burglary”: it was the avalanche of lies and the corruption of the state apparatus of justice. Bill Clinton wasn’t impeached for banging an intern in the Oval Office, it was the fact that he lied about it.
And, as the US enters an election year, Republicans are clearly growing more confident that an impeachment process will, even if it doesn’t succeed, fatally wound the Democrats.
After all, the process will take many months yet, meaning that any impeachment will be right smack in the middle of the presidential campaign. At the least it will be a deadly distraction for the Democrats.
If it succeeds, a few months of President Kamala Harris would be an even more potent weapon for the Republican candidate.
